If you’re a winemaker, you need to think seriously about where you are marketing your vintages and which shoppers will be most interested. One company, Naked Wines, has surveyed the entire country and looked at the different preferences in each state.
The results show a trend that some might have already predicted: Americans buy more red wine than white. Out of all 50 states, only three—Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa—had white wine sales that were higher than red wine sales. This data is admittedly not entirely conclusive, because several states, including Illinois, Oklahoma and Alabama, were not accounted for.
But among the remaining ones, reds were the clear champion. Some states, like Michigan, Mississippi and North Carolina, saw red wine account for more than 57 percent of total sales. The Washington Post quotes Naked Wines’ COO, Benoit Vialle, on customer preferences for these wines.
“Purchases can be a bit seasonal, and in the summer we see an uptick in white wine sales, but there’s still a very clear overall preference for red,” he said.
Part of the reason for red wine’s success might be its perceived healthiness. The most recent example of a piece extolling the benefits of red wine come from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, which states that the ingredients in red wine are useful for slowing down tooth decay. There have been other health benefits associated with drinking moderate amounts of wine in general, although opinions differ on this.
No matter why consumers are so interested in this type of wine, producers should think about the labels they make and the ways they might target different markets through industrial labeling systems.